Paul Revere Makes a Buck: Symbolism & Currency of the Revolutionary War — Exhibit and Talk

The Andover Center for History & Culture presents Paul Revere Makes a Buck: Symbolism & Currency of the Revolutionary War, an exhibit exploring Revolutionary War currency and art. Join historian Dr. Donald Slater for a special talk on Thursday, September 17.

Dr. Donald A. Slater will be speaking on Paul Revere and the Social Memory of Pine Tree Imagery in Colonial Massachusetts. This timely topic for the nation’s semiquincentennial will explore imagery from 17th century Massachusetts silver coinage and a variety of 18th century Massachusetts currency issues in an attempt to reconstruct the thinking of the local patriot, engraver, printer and renaissance man, Paul Revere. He will highlight the popular images found on the currency featured in our current exhibit of Dr. Slater's Rev War era collection.

During the 17th and 18th century, colonists mistrusted paper money as an economic vehicle and instead preferred specie coinage for commerce. Due to recurrent shortages of coinage in the colonies, and the need for colonial governments to fund certain activities, the issuance and usage of paper money was often a necessity. Revere would have been well aware of the delicate economic situation at the start of the Revolutionary War and colonists’ mistrust of paper currency. Slater thus argues that, as Revere was the primary engraver and printer of Massachusetts paper currency from 1775-1779, he intentionally leveraged historically powerful pine tree visual imagery to help boost the economic legitimacy of paper currency amongst the populace.